This week’s LOUIE came about via a Facebook post by Art Chantry…
Back in the 1970’s, Seattle had it’s fair share of “proto-punk” bands. in the very early part of the decade, there was Ze Whiz Kidz (more of a performance troupe rather than strictly a band). toward the end of the 70’s, there were early real punk bands like chinas comidas, the telepaths, the tupperwares (screamers), the lewd, the heaters,(heats), the enemy, etc. in between these two periods were the ‘proto-punk’ bands.
most of you out there may have never heard of most of those odd duck bands. they had names like lamar harrington and the lamarettes, the feelies, red dress, mojo hand, the moberleys, the mentors, clone, roland rock and (in this example) UNCLE COOKIE.
i don’t know very much about Uncle Cookie, however. they released a single. i’ve seen pictures of Conrad Uno (of Popllama records and Egg studios) performing with them. there are a few existing posters for thier performances – like this one. that’s about all.
however, the one thing i do know about uncle cookie was that artist Carl Smool was also very involved in them. he did all of their flyers, posters and their record cover. you may be more familiar with carl’s later work – especially for bumbershoot.
this little poster is for a benefit for KRAB radio – the listener supported fm radio station (one of the very first in the country). Uncle Cookie were doing a benefit show to help them stay afloat. also, KRAB was so eccentric in their playlist that they would actually let bands like uncle cookie play live on the air.
but, what i find magical about this poster is the artwork by Carl Smool. it’ so different compared to his later work. try to imagine carl’s paper mache dayglo skulls and his ‘hear no evil’ tshirts. then try to imagine him drawing this picture. i can’t do it.
.. and then Mark Campos chimed in….
This treasure catches Conrad Uno in the space between Uncle Cookie and his tenure as Popllama honcho. Here he is trying to teach himself bass and subsequently creating arguably the best cover of “Louie Louie” there is!
Mark also added this note…
Don’t neglect the b-side, the “Kitchen Cantata”, with the narrator introducing the pots and pans like the parts of an orchestra and then throwing them around the room …
Shout out to Casstina, who many years ago one afternoon let me tape rarities from her collection … I taped this and Johanna Went’s “Slave Beyond The Grave” on the same tape …
smokey nowak gave me an original poster from the Mentors, Roland Rock, The Lewd, etc. from 1977.
We played Live on KRAB’s Original Optimist Hour late night radio show in the spring of 1977. The sound mix was way off and it sounded like our drummer and Bass player were about a block away. Carl Smool and Janet Fly were among the other guests during that KRAB show.
We also played our last show as a band with Uncle Cookie and the Fruitland Famine Band around the same time. After that show, while we were all gathered at an after the show event, someone broke in to the Uncle Cookie Van and stole most of their gear.
My old Bread Truck was also parked there & packed with vintage stacks of Marshalls and all of our guitars, P.A. System and drums and it only had a cheap bicycle lock on the back door. A real close call.
I saw Uncle Cookie one more time when they came eastward to the state line near Spokane/Idaho and played at an old school house called The Rock in the Fall of 1977.
I still have my Uncle Cookie 45 rpm Hamburger record with the Carl Smool illustrated jacket.
One more note: The punk band called Mondo Bando that appeared for a few more months around Seattle after we broke up, only had Electra Blue the singer, the only remaining member left from the Seattle Heavy Metal Band Mondo Bando. After that version of the band finally gave up the ghost and died, Electra moved on to play in Violent World. After Violent World ended, Electra moved back to San Francisco with the Lewd and ran sound for the Punk Scene down there.
Mark Maye – Mondo Bando